It has its source in the Wood Mountain Hills of south-western Saskatchewan and flows in a north-easterly direction to its mouth at Old Wives Lake.

Beginning at Pinto Butte at over 1,000 metres (3,300 ft) in elevation, Wood River flows eastward through grasslands, rolling hills, and valleys that were carved by glacial meltwaters.

After Gravelbourg, the river continues north-east, passes by Shamrock Regional Park, and flows into the western end of Old Wives Lake.

Due to the semi-arid conditions in the region of Palliser's Triangle,[11] several reservoirs were built to retain water for irrigation and consumption.

The park is tucked away into a well treed, horseshoe-shaped bend in the river and has amenities such as a campground, swimming pool, picnic area, ball diamonds, fishing,[18] hiking trails, and a 9-hole golf course.

The 32-hectare site has the remains of a small dugout shelter on the banks of Wood River that was built in the 1930s by Norman Poulin, a local Métis farmer and trapper.

Poulin used trapping to supplement his farm income during the Great Depression and it is one of five such shelters he built to operate his trapline along the river.

[22] Wamsley Bridge is located about 20 kilometres (12 mi) north of Gravelbourg and is an archaeological site that contains "at least nine buried layers of butchered bison bone and hearth remains that have been partially exposed in a road cut".

From about 1907, local residents began using the area as a picnic spot and gathering site due to the natural grassy field, groves of trees, and access to Woody River.